Swales Aerospace delivers micro-satellite for NASA

Maryland, USA, 13 June 2006: Swales Aerospace announced the delivery of the last of five THEMIS micro-satellite spacecraft busses. The THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) mission is unique in that it is NASA’s first scientific research micro-satellite constellation consisting of five identical, high performance satellites flying in the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Swales Aerospace has successfully completed the delivery of all five spacecraft buses and the satellite dispenser probe carrier. All spacecraft were integrated in Swales Beltsville, Maryland, facilities and were delivered to the Principal Investigator team at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) under NASA’s Medium Explorer (MIDEX)Program. The mission is planned for an October 2006 launch.

The mission will determine the energetic triggering of explosive particle events in geo-space that manifest themselves, in the northern skies, as violent eruptions of the aurora, or northern lights. Each of the five satellites carries a comprehensive suite of electric, magnetic and particle instruments.